It was meant to be found
by livdunham
Summary: Trying to place her imagination in young Etta, Olivia decides to make her way to the old family house at Quincy Street. The place wasn't as she remembered, though it kept something from the past that will, eventually, bring some news in the future.


Hi guys, hum, I'm a little bit nervous because this is my first Fringe fanfiction in English. I speak Spanish a first language so I' sorry if this lacks of fancy words. I hope you get to understand that.

Anyway, it was made with tons of love and I was trying to fill some holes the show left opened. Actually this is based on what Etta told Olivia about the bullet so it doesn't follow any fact explicitly stated in the show.

I hope you get to enjoy the story.

**Blossom**

_Punishment_; it was all she could think of as she walked over her daughter's steps until she found the house.

The entire place was a mess. The musty smell was penetrating, no one had been there in years; maybe the last person to put a feet inside of the house was Etta, when she was just a thirteen years old girl trying to find something that could bring a memory of her parents.

Olivia shuddered when her vivid imagination placed a blonde little girl bending before a pile of broken glass of what it used to be a big family portrait. But the girl wasn't there, not really, even if the picture in her mind looked perfectly real. She knew that by the time she'd run towards her to stroke her back, her daughter would disappear just like she did that day at the park. Etta was unreachable.

Even after twenty one years, the house still held that feeling of loss. Those musty walls witnessed the way their marriage started to fade away. From a distance, still standing in the entrance hallway, Olivia started at what was left of their old sofa. The cushions were Peter's only company at night, unable to share the same bed with his wife, ashamed and betrayed by his own feelings.

Upstairs, the rotten bed reminded her the times she felt as lonely as ever. They hadn't share the same bed in months and falling asleep was beyond being easy. The cold sheets were a reminder that the worst was happening before their eyes and they weren't able to do something about it. She kept her thoughts in her mind, accepting the punishment life gave her for being too conflicted. At least, that was Olivia's conviction.

During the time Etta was missing she kept on thinking her daughter was dead. That kept her away from Peter and his insatiable desire to find her alive. There was no point to run behind Etta's trace if they were going to find her dead anyway. She was gone but Olivia never found the words to tell Peter; she couldn't even look him in the eyes, it was too painful, that man wasn't his husband anymore; he wouldn't listen to anybody, he wouldn't mind anything, his only goal was to find his girl and bring her home. But he was blinded.

A new ghost summed to Olivia's countless lists of dark shadows when she took off her wedding ring from her finger.

The wooden dresser caught her attention. It was still there, in the same place next to the bathroom's door. Of course the drawers had been opened and looted but she was confident her most valuable items will remain there. She was the only one that knew about the secret door hidden in the third drawer. It opened with the appropriate pressure in the right place.

She stared back at the black and white picture with her heart beating too fast against her ribs. The tears coming out of her eyes had nothing to do with the pain her memories brought back. She was looking at the first picture she ever had of her daughter. It was her most valuable possession among all other things, and now it was the only reminder of Etta, the only way she had to see her face again.

Her shaking legs couldn't support the weight of her body and her hands were still trembling when she slid to the floor, leaning against the wall. A ninety percent of her was ready to succumb before any kind of feeling her memories could bring back, but the ten percent remaining wasn't expecting for her to find the dresser there.

Along with the picture and the ring, was the home pregnancy test. She smiled and let out a sad moan.

What was the point on keeping the ring in a place that was no longer hers? Despite all the problems between them and the distance they kept from each other since Etta went missing, Peter wore his wedding ring day and night. He kept alive the vows they made on their wedding day; ring or not, they were still married and it was time to mend the mistakes.

The silver ring was about to slip through her finger when the cell phone rang inside of her pocket. It was Peter.

She answered but didn't say a word, afraid that her voice would break. "Olivia?" Peter asked before a few seconds. She cleared her throat and said his name, sadness evident in her words. "Peter"

"Olivia, are you okay, where are you?" Concern seized his words. He put his phone aside and looked at Olivia's cell's signal. "Olivia…"

"I'm fine. I… Peter I miss her" She cried still staring at the picture of the ultrasound.

They both remained silent, lost in their common thought. Etta.

"Olivia, I'm coming" He finally said as soon as he felt confident enough of his voice.

"Peter, the curfew has already begun; you can't come over here at this late hour" She replied with concern, aware that her words wouldn't have any effect on him.

"It wouldn't be the first time I am out during the curfew" He was right. There was another silent moment between the two of them. Both too overwhelmed with Olivia's current location.

"Be careful" She stated

"I will" He hesitated for a moment but by the time he started to move his lips, Olivia already said the words "I love you" And she hung up.

She didn't realize she was freezing due to the lack of glass in the windows. She stood up and walked towards the cherry tree from the back yard. It was taller this time and it looked strong. "_Cherry trees aren't supposed to be this tall_" She thought to herself. Back in the time they were still living there, the tree didn't reach the shed, now it was taller to touch its branches from the second floor.

They moved to the house near April, two years after Etta was born. They didn't realize about the tree when they went to see the building with the old family that used to live there. One day, playing in the sandbox, something caught Etta's gaze and made her walk towards the tree with her erroneous baby steps. When Olivia followed her, looking after any fall, the girl stretched her little arm and took the blossom of the branch, amazed with its color. Olivia sat near her daughter and received the flower from Etta's chubby hand. She smiled and said "Is as beautiful and perfect as you". And her two years old daughter smiled at the words of her mother.

Her hand flew to her gun when she heard something moving downstairs. Olivia stood there in silence, waiting for the intruder to appear from the stairs.

"Olivia?" It was Peter's voice. Confused, she lowered the gun and waited for Peter to reach her. "W-what are you doing here?"

"I... Ugh. I never realized she was wearing the bullet, not until that day at the lab. I grew curious and she told me she came here when she was thirteen" Tears escaped from her eyes "Our little girl came all this way just to remember things. To remember us; tying to remember her family. But the last time she saw us she was only three years old; what could she possibly remember about her time with her parents? She told me she came upstairs and she found the bullet at my old jewelry box"

Peter listened to her in silence. He knew Olivia wasn't there with him anymore. She was far away, lost somewhere inside of her memories, being haunted by her new ghosts, lost between dark shadows.

He realized he never had the opportunity to talk with his daughter about the reason behind her necklace; he never actually had the opportunity to talk with Etta about anything. He got to know her just by looking at her in silence, admiring the woman she became, admiring the woman he always thought his daughter someday will be.

By the time his mind returned from a countless list of regrets, Peter found himself staring at the two items lying inches from his hand, resting on the wooden floor covered in dust. His eyes began to sting.

Olivia's voice echoed in his mind as she spoke again. "Do you remember that morning I took the pregnancy test?"

He smiled for his own, still staring at the pregnancy test they kept through the years. "Yes. I woke up and you weren't by my side anymore. I thought you left the place but your pajamas weren't anywhere and there was just one place you could be at" Olivia's eyes took him back in time. She was staring at him just like she did back then; the only difference was the green inside of her iris. That morning it felt like he could swim on that green and sparkling pool filled with liquid emerald; but that night the green was solid instead, as hard as stone.

She stared back at him, her lips holding a light smile. "I was in the bathroom. I couldn't believe the words the doctor said to me so I bought a pregnancy test after you took me home from the hospital."

The memory seemed to be placed ages from there instead of only four years before they got ambered. But for the two of them the wounds were still fresh and it seemed that it wouldn't ever heal.

Her eyes started to sting again. "Why would we get her back just to lose her again?" She asked, tears rolling down her cheeks as she accepted a comforting hug from her husband. Leaning her head against Peter's shoulder, Olivia wiped away her tears with the back of her hand and stared at the picture Peter kept in his hand. "That was the first picture got of her little face" She smiled faintly. "The day we knew she was a girl… She was so beautiful and small when she was born. I promised myself I would do anything to keep her by my side. But I failed"

"Olivia" Peter interrupted, with pain in his voice, though Olivia kept talking to her own than to the man trying to hold her together.

"I had no faith. I thought she was dead. I lost my hope and I gave up" She turned and glanced at Peter "You didn't. You kept fighting, you kept looking for her and you never stopped. I couldn't. I gave up on her, Peter. I gave up on the only thing I've always wanted. I let my own daughter die inside of my mind"


End file.
